Sept. 19, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – This weekend, the University of Notre Dame women’s golf team will host the seventh annual Lady Irish Invitational. Newly appointed head coach Susan Holt and the Fighting Irish will welcome in 13 other schools to the event, which will take place at the par 72, 6,003-yard Warren Golf Course near the Notre Dame campus on Saturday, Sept. 23 and Sunday, Sept. 24. Competition gets underway both days with a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start. Two rounds will be played on Saturday and the third and final round will take place on Sunday.
TOURNAMENT: This marks the seventh year that Notre Dame has hosted the event. The Fighting Irish have claimed tournament victories in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Iowa took home the hardware in 2001 and Iowa State captured the title in 2004. The 2004 tournament featured the rewriting of every major Lady Irish Invitational record, including Notre Dame’s Karen Lotta firing a four-under par 68 in the third and final round. Iowa State’s Louise Kenney won the individual title with a tournament record even-par 216. The Cyclones posted a 38-over par 54-hole total of 902, another record.
FORMAT: Each team’s lineup will be comprised of five golfers with the lowest four scores for each round counting towards the overall team score. The second round will be played immediately after round one on Saturday. Team pairings for the first two rounds will stay the same and pairings for the third round will be based on results from rounds one and two. In the case of a tie, there will be a team playoff. The playoff will commence immediately upon completion of the final round. The holes used in the sudden-death playoff will be 1, 6 and 9.
FIELD: The tournament will have a Midwest flavor as nine of the 14 teams come from Indiana or its neighboring states. Here is the field for the 2006 Lady Irish Invitational: Cincinnati, Columbia, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Illinois, Illinois State, Iowa, IPFW, Notre Dame, Toledo, Western Michigan, Wichita State, Wyoming and Xavier.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) will play from the No. 1 spot in the Notre Dame lineup for the second straight event. The senior carries the program’s top career stroke average of 75.97 into this weekend’s event at her home course. Nakazaki took home co-medalist honors at last season’s Lady Irish Invitational.
Sophomore Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Collegiate Parkside Institute) occupies the second position in the Fighting Irish lineup. She possesses a career stroke average of 79.28 in 11 tournaments.
Freshmen Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) and Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep School) will play from spots three and four, respectively. They are coming off solid collegiate debuts at the Cougar Classic (Sept. 11-12). Brophy fired a 229 (74-79-76), while Wetzel carded a 239 (83-75-81).
Senior Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) will tee it up from the No. 5 position for Notre Dame. She has a career average of 78.75 in 64 rounds.
LAST TIME OUT: Notre Dame placed 12th out of the 18-team field at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C. on Sept. 11-12 at the Yeamans Hall Golf Club. The Irish posted a 54-hole total of 906 (+42, 301-300-305), while Noriko Nakazaki led the team with a four-over par three-round total of 220 (76-72-72) to place in a tie for 14th overall.
Lisa Maunu had a strong start to her sophomore campaign as she registered a top-20 finish by posting a six-over par 222 (71-75-76). Her one-under par 71 in the first round was the low-mark for the Irish team during the two-day event.
In their collegiate debuts, Annie Brophy notched a 229 (+13, 74-79-76), while fellow freshman Kristin Wetzel carded a 239 (83-75-81). Rounding out the Fighting Irish lineup was senior Stacy Brown, who posted a 243 (80-78-85).
DEBUT FOR HOLT: The Lady Irish Invitational will mark the debut for Susan Holt as head coach for Notre Dame. Holt was able to see the Fighting Irish play at the Cougar Classic as she was fulfilling her final duties with her previous team at the University of South Florida, who was also competing in the tournament. She spent the past 13 seasons at South Florida after coming from Purdue, where she was the head coach from 1990-93. Holt was hired on at Notre Dame in late August.
CAPTAINS: Senior Noriko Nakazaki and junior Alejandra Diaz-Calderon (Guadalajara, Mexico/American) have been named captains for the Notre Dame women’s golf team for the 2006-07 season.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Susan Holt shares her thoughts on the Lady Irish Invitational …
Susan Holt – head coach …
“I was able to see the team play last weekend because we were paired together, which was a good thing for me. I was able to get a head start by seeing the team play. I feel we played well, but I think we can also do better.”
“This weekend I’m just looking for them to come out and play like they are capable of and the victory will take care of itself. I just want them to shoot rounds that are indicative of their talent.”
“After this weekend the schedule will be getting tougher so it would be nice to shoot some low rounds and that’ll give us some confidence and help us later on.”
RESULTS: Following each day’s play, results will be posted on und.com.
NEXT UP: Notre Dame will have a week off before heading to the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence, Kan. The tournament will be played at the Alvamar Golf Course on Monday, Oct. 2 and Tuesday, Oct. 3.